


Crossing Fates

by Brim



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Bickering, Canon Compliant, Comfort, Gen, Kinda, adoption papers meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2021-01-25 11:22:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21355447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brim/pseuds/Brim
Summary: First impressions are important. Especially for someone who witnessed their entire world be unmade.
Relationships: Elidibus & Unukalhai (Final Fantasy XIV)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	Crossing Fates

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: it goes with the idea that unukalhai is the 13th's shard of the wol but its not really important

The world was ending and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Corrupted by their stolen powers, heroes turned to beasts. They fought and felled enemy after enemy, until there were none left to sate their hunger for aether. Eventually they turned against each other and warred until there was nothing left of their star.

A small part of Unukalhai envied them for their ignorance – in their single-minded pursuit to satisfy their endless hunger, he doubted they realized what happened to them and the world around them.

The flood was swift and merciless. Their world sank in eternal darkness. Land turned barren and was no longer able to support life. Of those that were left many perished and naught, but the most stubborn of creatures survived.

Unukalhai was weak and scared. As child born too soon to fight or forge a change it was his burden to witness to the End. As his broken form lied down dying he felt a strange sense of disconnection from watching his entire world be unmade. 

He felt cold. Death was cold. So incredibly cold and lonely.

_I …was too powerless…I don’t want this world to perish. I don’t want the others to be lost…If only there was something I could…_

…He snapped out of his wail, when he felt the ghost presence of _someone_ brush against his consciences. It was barely there and he was certain that he would have missed if it wasn’t for his unique talent. Unukalhai strained his senses, hopeful of a survival, but dreading the possibility of another beast.

At least his death would be swift then.

“The devastation is far greater than I imagined.” Unukalhai heard a voice. Its tone was cold and calculating.

_Is there anyone there? _

“Mindless beasts tearing each other apart…” The voice trailed off in its musings and there was a painfully long moment of silence. “This shard is lost.”

Unukalhai tried to cry out for help, but the only sound his throat could produce was a broken grunt. His eyes were stinging, so he closed them shut, bracing himself for one more attempt to stand up. He tried and tried, but his battered body refused to move.

But his struggle wasn’t entirely for futile.

“A survivor?” The voice hummed again. The presence was close to him now. Unukalhai opened his eyes, but there was only the indifferent blackness.

_Yes. I’m alive._ He tried to call out again, still uncertain if the presence even heard him.

“Your aether isn’t corrupted yet.” There was a pleased note in the voice. “Perhaps if you had grown, you may have wielded Her blessing and prevented this catastrophe…”

_Her blessing? _Unukalhai stilled in thought. _Prevent?_

It was possible to prevent this? To make sure this never happened and _he_ held the answer to that? Unukalhai recalled the heroes and their tales. He remembered the countless ballads praising them and their deeds. Valiant heroes and strong warriors, fighting to protect the weak and help those in need without thought or hesitation.

A hero, tried and true, but he wasn’t a hero.

He was a coward and there was nothing he, a mere child, could do. _Hapless. Powerless. Futile._ The thought was too painful and Unukalhai felt like there was a lump in his throat chocking him. Something was ringing in his ears and his eyes started stinging again.

…Until he heard the voice again and its serenity soothed him enough that Unukalhai managed to calm down the rapid beating in his heart.

“Fear not, I come with an opportunity. Should you wish to take it, you need to simply reach out.”

_I do! I don’t want this world to end! _Like a drowning man clutching at a straw, he held onto that hope. 

He strained himself one last time. It was a struggle – at the back of his mind, death was a gentle lullaby lulling him back to oblivion and beckoning him with its false veil of peace. He weakly reached out to his savior until, eventually, something grasped his hand in a firm hold and he was pulled into comforting darkness.

Exhausted, Unukalhai fell soundly asleep.

…

Upon waking up, Unukalhai felt his head heavy from sleep. His body shivered from the cold and he shifted, burying himself in the comforting warmth of the blanket draped over him. He was about to fall asleep again, but then he remembered the events that transpired before he passed out.

The monsters. The end. The voice. Those weren’t nightmares, but a cruel reality and for whatever reason he was still alive and conscious.

“…” Unukalhai heard multiple voices ramble and slowly his eyes cracked open.

He wasn’t in void, but the darkness around him felt unfamiliar. He was lying on the ground, or what he assumed to be ground, with a plain blanket covering him. He realized that his body wasn’t in pain – gone was the coldness and stiffness he felt as he died and he doubted that he slept long enough to recover from his wound naturally. Unukalhai quickly deduced that he was healed.

He focused on his surroundings and a bit further away he saw three robed figures talking to each other. One in white and two in black. The only other distinguishable feature between them was that each figure had a different red mask adorning half of their mask.

Straining his senses, he could just about hear what they were talking about. They spoke in a foreign language, yet oddly enough he understood every single word they uttered.

“…I thought you would be pleased to hear that that soul’s shard was saved unlike so many others.”

“Do not presume of my feelings.”

“My apologies then, Emet-Selch.” That voice was familiar, Unukalhai realized. It was the voice that called out to him when he drifted at the edges of oblivion. He spoke in the same collected tone he spoke to him, as if trying to calm down a child. “Regardless, although the shard is lost to us at present, we may still recover from this with the souls we’ve secured.”

The three figures were either too engrossed in their argument to notice that he was awake or they choose not to care. Unukalhai couldn’t tell which option was better.

“Mayhap so…” Emet-Selch made and overly dramatic exasperated sigh to further puncture his frustration. “Despite the immense loses, we’ve managed to acquired tools, yes, but I cannot see what _a child_ could offer.”

_Child?_ The statement stung Unukalhai more than he wanted to admit. Even saved by these enigmatic figures, he couldn’t escape his own helplessness.

“You do not approve of my decision?” The familiar voice belonged to the white-robed figure. His head tilted and he put a hand under his chin in thought. “Admittedly he will require some…extra care, but I believe that my time spend will prove productive.”

“Lahabrea!” Emet-Selch whined, folding his arms in another grand gesture. “Our dear emissary has made some very questionable decisions, is there naught you wish to say?”

“Hmm…” Uncustomary for him, Lahabrea was quiet for the majority of the debate between his two colleagues. “I cannot fault you for deciding to take in students, but why did you choose this child?”

“It’s simple.” His hands dropped back to his side and he looked up to his fellows. “I found him dying and drifting in the void. A child should not bare witness this type of devastation.”

“Pity?” Emet-Selch snorted. “I didn’t figure you to be such an _altruist_, Elidibus.”

“…I saw potential.” Elidibus ignored the jab and continued. “Furthermore, I will require aid.” This caused the other two to shuffle. Not even the masks hid their surprise. “I will oversee matters relating to balance, so that mistakes like these may not repeat.” He clarified.

“Elidibus…That is quite a burden.” Unlike Emet-Selch, Lahabrea expressed his concerns.

“That I am willing to take. Any objections?” Neither Lahabrea nor Emet-Selch said anything in opposition. “Then I propose we conclude this meeting.”

“Gladly.”

“I will go and talk to Igeyorhm.” Lahabrea announced and promptly disappeared in a cloud of shadows.

“Then I guess it falls on me to handle the rest.” Emet-Selch mumbled under his mask and immediately disappeared as well.

That just left the emissary and the child in the calm space between the worlds. A few moments of stillness passed, before Elidibus, his back still turned to him, tilted his head towards Unukalhai’s direction.

“You needn’t feint sleep in front of me.”

Unukalhai closed his eyes shut. His body stiffened and his breath momentarily stopped. In his childish panic, he tried to continue feigning, but it was futile – he heard footsteps. The sound grew louder and louder until it came to a stop. Realizing that it was pointless to continue, Unukalhai hesitantly opened his eyes and finally saw his savior up close.

The white robes were in stark contrast to the darkness around him, almost as if he was in the presence of a phantom. The red mask covering half of his face had an avian-like design. It slightly unnerved Unukalhai, because he couldn’t read the man’s expression nor intentions, so he didn’t know whether he should trust him.

“I’m sorry.” Unukalhai felt embarrassed, as if he was just scolded by his elders.

“You needn’t be.” He reassured him. Unukalhai sat up, the plain blanket pooling at his feet and Elidibus knelt down beside him so that they were near eyelevel. “Me and my black-robed colleagues may have our…disagreements, but in the end we all have the same goal.”

“Which is?” The concern was plain on Unukalhai’s face. Unlike his savior, he didn’t have the luxury of hiding behind a mask.

“Equilibrium. To restore the world as it was and as it should be.”

“Equilibrium…” Unukalhai’s thoughts trailed off and he blankly stared at the space around them. There were no differencing features in the background he could latch his attention onto other than the white-robed man’s presence. “So that nobody goes through the same tragedy again?”

His eyes turned back to Elidibus and he asked him directly.

“Yes. By Lord Zodiarks’ will, our star will thrive and such tragedies won’t repeat.” There was the ghost of a smile under the red mask.

“My world was destroyed because of reckless greed.”

“…I am aware.” His tone turned quiet. “It was a truly unfortunate development. One which I will take special care to ensure it doesn’t repeat.”

Comforted by the thought, Unukalhai couldn’t help, but let his lips quirk up in a small smile. He remembered Elidibus’ earlier promise to his colleagues. There was no hesitation or mischief in his words, or at least none that Unukalhai could sense. His goal seemed just and his intentions sincere.

So Unukalhai decided to trust him.

“If the balance is shattered, then the world in will be consumed by a calamity beyond imagining.” Slowly and gradually, Unukalhai found more strength and courage to speak.

_So that this doesn’t repeat…so that no world gets destroyed again…_

“You learn fast, despite your age.” The smile on Elidibus’ face strengthened, becoming a real one. “This pleases me greatly.”

“…Tis nothing.” Flustered by the compliment, Unukalhai looked down again with his smile turning shy. He fiddled with the details on his robe until he calmed down enough to voice his newfound determination. “Please teach me.”

“Patience. Rest for now and there will be plenty of time to teach you the truth about this star, its fate …and how to safeguard it.” The smile widened. Unukalhai nodded.

Elidibus then stood up on his feet and in follow, Unukalhai lifted himself up as well. His body felt a bit sore, but not enough to deter him and he was ever the one eager to learn.

“I believe an introduction is in order.” The white-robed Ascian looked down towards him. “I am Elidibus, emissary—bearer of the word of the one true god. And by His will, our world shall receive salvation.”

_Elidibus…_

“My name is Unukalhai.” He said without hesitation.

_And under your mastership, I will become a tool for balance._

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! I really appreciate your feedback 
> 
> eli: I shall adopt this child  
emet: no  
laha: eh, as long as you take care of it  
emet:
> 
> anyway, I dont know if I conveyed it properly, but emet doesn't like the idea of using a child  
meanwhile whether eli is using him or theres some ...other motives as well, then ...


End file.
